Some men see things as they are and say, “Why?” I dream things that never were and say, “Why not? -------- Robert Kennedy’s Some people are so obsessed and absorbed in their tiny realities that pulling them out is impossible.At a conference, someone asked the speaker whether a €50,000 salary was good in Spain.The speaker asked if they meant per month or per week. Your reality defines what you consider possible and impossible.Your words, your gestures, shape your mind. The moment you go from...
1 day ago • 1 min read
The US government tracked people from ages 20 to 65. They found that when these people arrived to 65, for every 100 people: 36 were dead 54 were living on government or family support 5 were still working because they had to 4 were well off 1 was wealthy That’s the US. I don’t think that the rest of the world is so different. I don’t know what your plan is when arriving to that age. Considering that you don’t want to be in the first group… what’s your plan? Where do you want to be? Mine,...
3 days ago • 1 min read
It’s the weekend and you’re off to brunch. One of those trendy cafés. You’re calmly sipping your latte. And then you see them coming. A mob. One of those “meet-ups.” Apparently they organize through an app… or so my wife tells me. They meet up and go exercise together. No fewer than a hundred. All headed to our café. $300 sneakers, skin-tight - very tight - Lululemon leggings at $200 per leg, Hugo Boss caps at $50 per ear… You get the picture. On average, about $1,000 in “athleisure.” They...
4 days ago • 1 min read
This past Sunday, I was walking with my wife and son. A construction site. My son loves them. They were dismantling a big crane. Right next to our house. I was telling my wife… “For less than that, I shut down an entire work front on my last project.” There was a worker walking along the crane, without a harness. “He should be wearing a harness… Actually, he shouldn’t even be up there.” “Well,” my wife said, “That guy over there isn’t wearing one either, maybe they don’t need them.” “He...
5 days ago • 2 min read
If you are not going to love the answer, don’t ask. Simple. And still people… ask. I love chocolate. I make a terrific chocolate cake that is being famous in Spain, Canada and New Zealand. I pour fondant chocolate for a small army. 100%. Dark. Real. Pure chocolate. No sugar. I enjoy making this cake so much!! For my 3 year-old son’s birthday… do you think that I’m going to ask parents whether I should put 5 tablets of dark chocolate in the cake? I’d be crazy. Still, many people would ask. For...
6 days ago • 1 min read
Last Friday I almost closed a chapter. A terrible project. Lost lots of money. And of course… I’m looking now for the next. Many people out there play not to lose. But this is a losing strategy. You learn a lot when you lose. You barely know what went really well and why when you just win. It can be anything. But when you lose, you learn. Really well. You adjust. You repeat. You increase the odds for next time. When investing in real estate I see this trend all the time. Invest. It didn’t go...
7 days ago • 1 min read
When you are doing real estate, there are always mistakes. That point that is not well located. The m2 in the council register that does not match reality… Things like that. But you’re more or less alone on this or with your small team. You assume that in multibillion dollar projects, things get more organized. You know. PPPs. So complex. So sophisticated. And… So… human. Yeah, because humans, not banks, not machines, not financial models… humans deliver. And humans “la joden”… or screw it...
8 days ago • 2 min read
Once upon a PPP… A government agency somewhere on this planet (let’s keep names confidential to protect the not-so-innocent) was closing a deal on a massive infrastructure PPP. As usualll… Billions involved. Advisors everywhere. Very expensive ones, of course. Lawyers billing by the minute. Months of negotiations. Taxpayers forgetting about their money. Everything was perfect. Absolutely perfect. Until it wasn’t. Well… in the final version of the contract, someone — probably after too much...
9 days ago • 1 min read
I don’t do it every day. I agree. But, in case some of you still haven’t realized it by now, when talking about real estate, I’m talking about one thing and one thing only: Freedom. How to master the skills needed so you don’t depend on a salary, laziness, the opinions of others, or being stuck in places you don’t want to be at times you don’t want to. How to tame discipline, strength, and morality so that you’re the master of your desires and not a slave to your instincts. That is a goal...
10 days ago • 1 min read